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MH17 remains arrive in Netherlands from Ukraine

Hearses transporting coffins containing remains of victims of flight MH17 arrive in Hilversum on Nov 28, 2014 during their transfer following their arrival from Kharkiv, Ukraine.

PHOTO: AFP

[EINDHOVEN] Six more coffins carrying body parts of victims from downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 arrived in the Netherlands from Ukraine on Friday, with nine victims of the July disaster still unidentified.

A Dutch Air Force C-130 transport plane arrived at an airfield in the southern city of Eindhoven after leaving Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine.

The coffins were loaded into six hearses at a ceremony attended by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, before heading for a forensic research facility in Hilversum where the process of identifying the victims is taking place.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was blown out of the sky on July 17 over Ukrainian rebel-held territory, killing all 298 people on board, including 193 Dutch citizens.

But nine victims remained unidentified as recovery work at the crash site shut down for the winter.

Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of supplying pro-Kremlin insurgents with the missile that shot down the jet but Moscow and the separatists deny they were responsible and have instead pointed the finger at Kiev.

Dutch and Ukrainian officials earlier Friday held a memorial ceremony at the airport in Kharkiv for the last batch of human remains to be transported this year.

Kharkiv governor Igor Baluta said the debris of the downed jet would be loaded onto trucks for transportation on Saturday and depart from eastern Ukraine in the near future.

Searches would resume again in March, Mr Baluta said.

Dutch justice ministry spokesman Jean Fransman told AFP: "It's probably not the last time that human remains will be returned from the crash site." "There are some areas where we've not searched yet," he said.